Lawmakers call for ban on East German symbols

TREPTOW, Germany, May 21 (UPI) -- Germany's Christian Democrats called Tuesday for a ban on symbols associated with the former East Germany totalitarian socialist regime.

Earlier in May, veteran Stasi soldiers, the official state security service of East Germany, marched in uniform through Treptow where a Soviet War Memorial and graves of thousands of soldiers are located, TheLocal.de reported.

Volker Kauder, parliamentary leader of the CDU, said the march was a provocation and made a mockery of the victims of the East Germany dictatorship.

The CDU party wants to ban images of the dictatorship, similar to the ban on Nazi memorabilia and imagery, the newspaper said.

Those who display Nazi symbols can be sentenced to three years in prison.